


burn like a wildfire

by catstronaut



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Jake is a Maine coon and Fireboi takes after him, Princess is a clan cat, different prophecy, it now applies to all the clans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-03-14 17:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18952873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catstronaut/pseuds/catstronaut
Summary: Born from death, Firekit and his sister, Ashkit, are taken in by Thunderclan after they're found at the edge of the territory. They're thought to be ordinary kits until they mention "starry cats" in their dreams; soon, word spreads to the other clans, and they're sought after by each of them.Where do their fates lie? What will become of them?





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> wrow time to start another fic
> 
> this one owns my soul atm so maybe sorta frequent updates? hopefully

Cats with starlight glimmering in their pelts and settling around their paws sat silently as they watched their descendants wake from their slumber, looking at their surroundings. The first to fully understand where they were was a small dark brown tom with a short tail; he sat up straight and stared back to the cats with a level gaze. Next, the large brown and battle-scarred tom with long fur sat up, glancing to the other living cats before focusing his tired eyes to the figures before him. An elegant tortoiseshell she-cat was after him, her eyes widening as she understood where she was. Lastly, the small, sickly looking gray and white tom pushed himself to his paws, blinking slowly and glancing between the star-covered cats and the ones he’d bonded with over countless half-moons of travel.

 

Of the cats that held their attention, one was a silver tabby tom with silky fur and long whiskers, another was a lithe white she-cat with black spots running across her pelt, the third was a scarred gray and brown tom that towered over the others, while the final was a small white she-cat with eyes that seemed to see through the living cats’ very souls. 

 

“What are we all doing here?” The short-tailed tom blurted out, immediately drawing his ears back and crouching as he realized how rude the question was. It merely earned chuckles from the she-cats and silver tom, while the largest rolled his eyes. 

 

Stepping forward, the spotted she-cat looked to those before her with eyes that held a gentle sadness. “ _ Fire alone will save the clans, but will burn through them like a wildfire before allowing new life to rise from the ashes. _ ” She spoke with a voice that sounded like a river, strong but smooth, never wavering.

 

Rushing forward, the tortoiseshell stopped before the silver tom. “Featherwhisker, what does she mean? How will fire help the clans?” Her voice dripped with desperation and confusion, the tom - Featherwhisker - glancing to his paws, unable to meet her gaze.

 

“That’s for you and the rest of the living to find the meaning of, Spottedleaf.” 

 

As the stars faded from vision, the tortoiseshell awoke, fur bristling along her spine. Her breaths were quick as she forced herself to calm down, getting to her paws and padding to her leader’s den.

 

Taking a deep breath and hoping she wouldn’t get into too much trouble, she pushed herself into the den. “Bluestar?” Her voice shook nervously, shrinking under the bright gaze of her leader.

 

A she-cat with blue-gray fur sat up, eyes flashing in the pale moonlight that filtered in. “Yes, Spottedleaf? What’s wrong?” Bluestar questioned softly. Spottedleaf padded the rest of the way into the den, her small paws tapping gently against the rock. 

 

“Starclan has sent us a prophecy, and I’m afraid of what it may mean for not only us, but the clans as a whole.”


	2. one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it starts.

It was the beginning of leafbare and patrols were going out more frequently, trying to catch as much prey as possible, knowing full well that the queens of whom just kitted or are close to giving birth would need all the energy they could get for the harsh moons ahead, not to mention how they needed to be sure that the rival clans wouldn’t see them as weak. Willowpelt and Robinwing had just given birth while Brindleface was due at any time, so Spottedleaf had been sure to keep the necessary herbs well-stocked at all times. Not to mention, Riverclan was becoming increasingly persistent about laying claim on Sunningrocks and blood was being shed quite often over the Starclan-forsaken stones.

 

Early in the day, just after the dawn patrol had left, Lionheart led a hunting patrol under Redtail’s orders with Whitestorm, Darkstripe, and Longpaw. While prey was already becoming scarce, they used it as a learning opportunity for Longpaw, who’d only became an apprentice within the past moon. Lionheart had to narrow his eyes at the way the less desirable aspects of Darkstripe’s personality were beginning to rub off on the young cat.

 

The brash honesty the apprentice had was beginning to take the shape of a disgust for everything that wasn’t Thunderclan, but Longpaw wasn’t his to train, so he knew better than to stick his nose into business that didn’t involve him. Whitestorm likely had similar thoughts with the way he cringed ever so slightly whenever the two said something that was toeing the line of what was acceptable and what was being self-centered or cruel.

 

Perhaps Longpaw would grow out of it once he became a warrior, once he was out from under his mentor’s influence. 

 

All of a sudden, the scent of old blood washed over the patrol, causing the youngest to gag. Darkstripe looked to him disdainfully, lips partially drawn into a snarl as Lionheart motioned for them to stop. “Darkstripe, stay here with Longpaw while we see what the cause of this is,” Lionheart meowed quietly, looking to the white tom. “Whitestorm, come with me; I don’t know what we’re going to be walking into.”

 

Nodding in agreement, Lionheart began to approach the source of the stench, his stomach twisting as he realized that it’s cat’s blood, not that of some other animal. There was also another scent with it, one he was unable to name off the top of his head.

 

Looking to Whitestorm, he noted that the tom looked increasingly concerned as they continued on. Just as they were almost upon a small clearing, a pitiful mewling reached their ears, and Lionheart realized what the other scent was - the scent of kit afterbirth.

 

The two toms wasted no time rushing forward, and they were met with the sight of a brown and white cat lying with their back towards them, blood soaking their hind legs and tail. There was no rise and fall of their chest and the odor of death was just beginning to rise from the corpse. Lionheart cautiously padded forward, heart clenching in his chest when he saw two barely cleaned kits weakly trying to suckle the dead mother, while one laid motionless, and two were still in their sacs.

 

Looking the she-cat over, the sight of a kittypets collar caught his attention; the cat must have came into the woods to find somewhere secluded for her to have her kits, not knowing that this would happen. Looking to Whitestorm, he motioned for him to come closer with his tail. "What do we do about the kits?" Lionheart meowed lowly, eyes drifting back to the scrawny creatures.

 

A thoughtful look crossed Whitestorm's face before he padded forward and began to clean one of them, making it fuss, before picking it up by its scruff. Lionheart followed with no hesitation and soon they were on their way back to the camp, Darkstripe and Longpaw left to hunt.

 

One of the kits was a dark ginger with a light cream underbelly and paws, while the other was a soft brown with cream patches; if Lionheart had to guess, he'd say that one was a tom and the other a she-kit, but he couldn't say for sure. All he was certain of was that their mother is a dead kittypet, that they're much too cold for his liking, and that they're much too small to be healthy.

 

Bluestar was definitely going to rip their pelts off. Well, definitely his, maybe not Whitestorm’s. Cringing through the mouthful of fur, he grunted unhappily at the thought of being scolded by his leader. 

 

They made their way through the gorse tunnel, carefully so as to not catch the scraps on any of the prickles, and made their way into the clearing. It was closing in on sunhigh and the cats that weren’t out on patrol or hunting were beginning to filter into the patches of sunlight within the clearing. Bluestar herself was lying stretched out below Highrock, speaking softly to Fuzzypelt, though her purr could be heard from across the clearing.

 

Just as they thought that they could make their way to her without attention being drawn to themselves, the little ginger kit let out an indignant mewl as Lionheart moved his head too quickly for its’ liking. And, just like that, the whole clan’s attention was directed to the toms and the creatures they held so gently in their mouths.

 

Bright blue eyes flashed as Bluestar pushed herself to her feet and padded to them, expression blank as she looked over the two squirming bundles when Lionheart and Whitestorm sat them onto the ground before them. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, those electric blue eyes found Lionheart’s own golden ones. “Explain.”

 

Her voice left no room for argument, and it left Lionheart to awkwardly shuffle his paws and look to his friend for help. “We came across an area that reeked of blood and what we found to be kit afterbirth - a kittypet had apparently found her way into the forest and bled to death while kitting. There were three other kits, all of which were dead.” His words were rushed as he paused to take a breath. “With all due respect, Bluestar, we couldn’t leave two defenseless kits to die, even if they came from kittypet parentage.”

 

Whitestorm stepped forward then, carefully keeping the brown kit underneath him. “It was my idea. I thought that even if they were to be less than stellar warriors, they could always become an extra paw in the nursery or Spottedleaf’s apprentice.”

 

Staring the two senior warriors down with an intensity that few were on the receiving end of, her expression melted into a softer one and she knelt to give each kit a gentle lick on the forehead. “Come forward with them and I’ll announce them to the clan. If we’re lucky, one of the queens will offer to raise them.”

 

Relief coursed through the golden tom’s body as he and his friend padded below highrock, kits gently brought with them. “Let all those cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the highrock for a clan meeting!” Bluestar’s yowl drew the cats forward, curiously glancing between her, the two senior warriors, and the scraps of fur that they held. “Lionheart and Whitestorm have found two kits while on a hunting patrol, and they have informed me that their mother was found dead.” The blue-gray she-cat pauses to let her words sink in.

 

“Because of this, I have decided that Thunderclan will take them in; are any of the queens willing to nurse them?”

 

A light gray she-cat pushed her way forward, her stomach loose beneath her. “I will, Bluestar! Graykit may be big, but I will gladly take care of these two poor little ones. I have more than enough milk for them.” her voice was steady and she stared her leader down, as if daring her to deny her.

 

Nodding, Bluestar closed her eyes appreciatively. “Thank you, Willowpelt. Lionheart, Whitestorm, take them to the nursery for her.” 

 

With that, the meeting was over, and she padded into the nursery once the toms had given Willowpelt the two kits. Her eyes softened as she took in the sight of the she-cat gently cleaning the two as well as her own kit, before her attention was drawn to her leader. She purred a greeting and looked down to the little ones at her stomach.

 

“I’ve decided on names for them… Firekit for the ginger tom, while the little she-kits name is Ashkit.”

 

“Those are wonderful names, Willowpelt.”


	3. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> starry cats decide to pay a visit to the kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wrow i. need to write more
> 
> anyway. hope yall like this.

Only a few days after they were adopted into the clan, the two kits had grown exponentially, especially the tom, whose fur had thickened and started growing out, making him into a ginger ball of fluff. The she-kit was the normal size of a kit their age, and her fur wasn't nearly as long as her brother's, pale off-white patches standing out against the rest of her brown tabby fur. Both of their eyes had opened, Firekit with green peeking through the blue of his irises, while Ashkit's were completely blue.

Within half a moon, Firekit would often sneak out of the nursery to try to sleep with Spottedleaf, but the clan guards would usually notice him and direct him back to his nest, much to his anger. Though one night, he finally succeeded, and curled up by the kind she-cat that would often play with him and his sister when she wasn't busy.

That wouldn't have been worrying if it wasn't for the fact that that same night, Brambleberry and Featherwhisker visited her in a dream, both _mrrow_ ing with amusement as the flame-colored tom bounded around, chasing their tails. Spottedleaf was more than shocked, unable to comment before the former Riverclan she-cat spoke.

"He's a special kit, you know. Despite having kittypet blood running through his veins, he has the strongest connection to Starclan out of every cat alive. It's a shame his destiny lies as a warrior; he'd be a phenomenal medicine cat." Brambleberry's gentle mew shook Spottedleaf out of her stupor. 

"But what of his sister? Does she share this with him?" Spottedleaf looked between the two starry cats before her eyes landed on the energetic kit who was now trying to catch a butterfly. 

This time, it was Featherwhisker that spoke. "Ashkit is special in her own right. She has a connection with those long forgotten, the ones of whom helped the creation of the clans. She will follow the path of a warrior, but will realize that her fate lies somewhere else."

Spottedleaf's mind was spinning with what this may mean for the clan. _Her_ clan. These two kits... just what will they cause? What will they prevent? Just as her thoughts began to get out of control, Firekit seemed to spot her, and bounded over. 

"Spottedleaf! When did you get here? Did you follow the starry cats, too? I like them! Berry tells good stories! Have you heard her stories? And Featherwhisker tells me all about the things you did when you were little like me!" His eyes shone with the light of all Silverpelt, and she took a deep breath. Whatever was to happen, they would face it as it happened, and not before.

Featherwhisker chirped a laugh when Spottedleaf shot him a playful glare. "Did he, now? Is _that_ why you're always trying to sneak in my den?"

Firekit at least had the decency to look sheepish. " _Maybe_..."

All three medicine cats, past and present, laughed at his reaction, and Brambleberry reached over and licked the top of his head, causing him to squeak. "I believe your night is almost up, my dears."

 

* * *

 

 

Spottedleaf awoke with Firekit snuggled close into her side, watching as he slowly blinked open his eyes and yawned, showing the teeth that were just beginning to poke through his gums. He looked around before looking up to her, a purr sounding from his throat. "Morn', Spottedleaf!"

Licking his head, she purred softly. "Good morning to you too, Firekit. Don't you think you should be in the nursery with Ashkit and Graykit?"

Looking away and trying to back away from the tortoiseshell she-cat, his purr seemed to sputter off into nothing. "I... I guess so." He said softly. Spottedleaf got to her paws and stretched, easily making her way over to him and picking him up by his scruff. He protested loudly as she padded out of the den and towards the nursery, where she met a frantic looking Willowpelt.

"Spottedleaf! Have you-" Willowpelt stopped, noticing the squirming bundle held by the other she-cat, and the tension melted from her frame. "Oh, Starclan, I'm sorry if he woke you up! I should have been watching him, I'm so sorry!"

Shaking her head, Spottedleaf sat the kit in front of his adoptive mother, watching as she pinned him and began cleaning him, Ashkit and Graykit peeking around the entrance of the nursery, snickering. Dustkit, Ravenkit, and Sandkit joined them soon after, watching in amusement as their friend was cleaned. Firekit wriggled free after a few moments, stumbling into the nursery and arching his back when he saw his siblings and friends.

Willowpelt was about to follow, when Spottedleaf spoke up. "Willowpelt, wait. I need Firekit and Ashkit to accompany me to Bluestar's den; it won't take long." she saw the flash of protectiveness and fear flash in the queen's eyes. "It's nothing to worry about! We're just going to ask them a few questions, we aren't going to be kicking them out of the clan, if that's what you're worried about."

Hesitantly, Willowpelt dipped her head and motioned for the two to come out. "Bluestar and Spottedleaf wish to talk to you two, so you best run along, or Graykit may drink all my milk!" Ashkit bounced out, excitement shimmering in her eyes, while Firekit walked out, head low, preparing to be scolded. Spottedleaf ran her tail along the fluffy kit's back as a form of comfort as they went to their leader's den.

"Bluestar?" Spottedleaf called into the darkness.

"Come in, Spottedleaf." An older she-cat's voice rang out from within, and Spottedleaf gestured for the two kits to follow her as she stepped inside.

Ashkit looked around in awe while anxiety bubbled in Firekit's stomach as Spottedleaf sat in front of Bluestar. She motioned for them to sit beside her."I apologize for waking you, Bluestar, but I... _we_ , I suppose, have talked to Starclan once again."

That seemed to pique Bluestar's interest as she pricked her ears and sat up straight. "We? What do you mean, _we_?"

Nodding to Firekit, Spottedleaf spoke again. "Firekit sneaked into my den last night, and fell asleep beside me. Apparently that was what Starclan was waiting for. Brambleberry and Featherwhisker appeared, and Firekit was there with us. This wasn't the only time he's met with my former mentor, apparently."

"And what else?" The old she-cat prompted, leaning forward. "What does this have to do with his sister?"

"They revealed that Firekit has the strongest connection to Starclan out of every cat alive, while Ashkit has a connection with those who have already disappeared from Starclan; those who have been forgotten, despite them being the ones who founded the clans."

The four cats sat in silence for a few moments, the kits looking confused. "But what do the starry cats have to do with this? Can't _everyone_ see them?" Ashkit asked, tilting her head and looking between Bluestar and Spottedleaf while Firekit nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we thought that everyone was able to see them!" The tom-kit added, bravery returned.

Bluestar takes a deep breath. "Well, it seems that we have the cats every clan is going to be after, Spottedleaf."

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! hit up my art tumblr @supurrnova-arts or my wc tumblr @rockyspots !!


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